THE QUALITY OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN THE COLUMBIA NEIGHBORHOOD – COLATINA, BRAZIL, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ADULT USERS (Atena Editora)

Abstract

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) together with the World Health Organization (WHO) refers to Primary Care as the first level of care and the main gateway into the health system. For Starfield, there are four essential attributes for evaluating PHC, which are: access to the individual's first contact with the health system, longitudinality, comprehensiveness and coordination of care. In addition to these, there are qualifiers, called derived attributes, which are: family-centered health care, community orientation and cultural competence. The objective of this study was to evaluate the profile of users and the quality of Primary Health Care in the Basic Health Unit in the Columbia neighborhood, Colatina - ES. A descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, was carried out with adult users of the service, using a questionnaire based on the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCATool-Brazil) – adult instrument. In relation to the PHC attributes evaluated, it was seen that “affiliation”, “access to first contact”, “longitudinality” presented a positive evaluation based on the responses of the majority of users. However, the other attributes “coordination”, “integrality”, “family focus” and “community orientation” demonstrated deficiencies. The majority of participants reported lack of knowledge about mental health counseling, smoking cessation, changes with aging or prevention of falls at the USF, there is a failure to integrate the patient into their care or that of their family, and 74% reported that they are not done research to find out whether your health needs are being met. In view of this, it is understood that there is a need to develop public policies that seek greater involvement of the family and the community in the search for the right to citizenship and improved quality of life.